Love of the Dead
by Crystal Meadow
Summary: Someone out there is targeting the organization, and anything supernatural, for attack. Roxas has enough problems, he doesn't need the tall, red headed human to try to burst into his life, at least, that's what he's trying to tell himself. Discontinued.
1. Chapter 1

_Chapter 1_

"Ohh, look at the hot guy in the corner."

"I know. Look at his eyes. I don't think I've seen a blue like that., ever."

"One of us should so go over there and get his number or something."

The girls were so engrossed in their conversation, they didn't even notice that said hot guy in the corner slightly flinched and became tense.

"Break it up, break it up. You guys should stop fantasizing about blondie over there. From what I hear, he's playing for the other team. You guys don't have a chance."

As soon as she spoke those words, the teen in the corner relaxed, even though he was to far away to hear their hushed conversation.

"Ahh, Tifa, why'd you have to go and ruin our fun like that."

"You ever been on the receiving end on one of his glares. They've sent girls into tears. I don't know how many employees this place has lost because of that glare."

"I didn't know that he was that blonde. Oh well, I guess we better get back to work than."

As soon as the girls dispersed back to their jobs Tifa got a cup off the counter and went to the corner where the object of all the attention sat. She sat down in the chair in front of him.

"Heya blondie. How are things going?"

". . . are you on break?" the blonde said in a monotone voice.

"Well of course silly. The boss is to tightfisted let me talk to customers and pay me for it," she said with a slight laugh in her voice. She then quieted and got a sincere look in her eyes.

"I mean it blondie. How are you?"

The blonde sighed and said in the same quiet monotone voice, "I'm fine. You?"

"Me? I'm doing as fine as someone can working dead end coffee shop job. I'm thinking of quitting. A friend of mine said he would help me along with another job."

"What is it?" the blonde said, never changing his voice.

"You don't have to be polite, but since you asked, a bartender," the waitress said with a smile on her face.

"A bartender?" the blonde questioned with some slight surprise in his voice.

"Hey, I know I don't look it, I can take care of myself. I know for a fact that it would be more exciting than this place."

"Hn," was all he said before he took a drink of the tea that Tifa delivered.

"_TIFA GET OFF YOUR LAZY-_" a loud angry voice said from somewhere in the kitchen.

"_ALL RIGHT CID!!_" she interrupted him in an equally loud and angry voice and stood up. "I hope you have a good day blondie," she said in a much more friendly voice.

"You too," the blonde said getting up from the table as well, " . . . thank you."

"For earlier? Don't mention it. I didn't think you would appreciate it and I hate having to work double shifts to cover for when one of the others quit," she said in a flippant voice.

The blonde teen was nearly out the door of the empty café before Tifa stopped him.

"I almost forgot. I won't be working my usual schedule. We got a new employee. Can't remember his name. Started with an 'A' I think," she said tapping her chin. After a couple seconds she shook her head, "Anyways, I heard that he flirts with anything that moves, man, women, or the pigeon outside the window. Just warning you so you won't punch his face in."

Her only reply was a raised eyebrow as he turned around again and took out a pair of sunglasses and walked out the door. She shook her head at the sudden resemblance between her blonde friend and him. Her last thought before she stationed herself behind the register again was that maybe this new employee could thaw out the ice prince where she could only slightly warm him. After that she was to busy to give her no name friend a second thought.


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2_

(Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Kingdom Hearts. There will also be a little Zexion x Demyx to warn everybody. Another warning is that I am long winded so there will be loads of description. When Roxas drones on about his house, just skip down a couple of paragraphs to get back to the actual story if you are getting bored. That will probably happen a lot. _You Have Been For Warned.)_

It's strange, I made a friend by just brooding in a corner in a café. Now I've been going there every Saturday for half an hour for three years just for Tifa's company. I even wake up early, and now I can feel myself smiling a little. I wouldn't hear the end of it if one of the others were here, I'm known for my apathetic features.

Tifa is a strange one. When I first went in there I sat at the back and ordered one cup of tea. The waitress wouldn't stop flirting with me though. Right when I was about to reduce her to tears Tifa came over and finished my order. It's been the same ever since. She hasn't once asked for my name in three years, even though I'm there every week. I will be sad when I can't see her anymore. I just made myself sad, I don't have many friends, loosing her will be hard. I shook my head and concentrated on finding a deserted place.

After awhile of walking, I finally found a suitably deserted alleyway to make a portal. As soon as the familiar dark tendrils rose up, I walked through and was greeted with the smells and sounds of a forest and the sight of my two story house.

I don't splurge on a lot of things. I am probably one of the cheapest of the old ones, but when I spend money, I spend _money_. The house is made on the top of a waterfall and painted the greens and browns of the forest, where there can be paint. Nearly sixty percent of the walls are windows, even though they are covered by black out curtains. The house has a very Frank Lloyd Wright type of feel. I always regret that I could never get him to make a house for me, but back to the house.

The inside of the house is even better. Some of the water has actually been diverted to flow through the entire bottom floor. The best room of the house though, is my bedroom. The walls and ceilings is painted a azure blue with black accents and trim. One wall is completely sliding glass windows that lead out to a fenceless balcony. The wall directly to the right of the windows is a huge wall sized lava lamp, filled with bright blue oil and black and blue glitter.

The only thing that can top it off though is the bed. A huge bed that can fit four people with Egyptian cotton black sheets with azure blue silk and cotton pillows. Above all of that is a canopy with black and blue velvet and chiffon all over. The one thing that confuses me though, is that my completely black blackout curtains somehow have silver little hearts drawn on them. . . I never should have let Demyx know where I live.

The rest of the house . . . I got side tracked by my house again. I can't help it though, I really like my house. By now, I already wandered up to my bedroom while admiring my house (again not my fault it is the best house ever). I turned on the lava lamp and put some lights beneath the oil. I took off my clothes while rummaging for my silk pajama pants. When I finally put them on and made sure that the curtains where drawn tight, my eye twitched when I saw the hearts, the lava lamp was heated. I got under the sheets and stared at the lamp until I started drifting off. I hope that the dreams aren't as bad tonight . . .

"_Come on ??, don't be a chicken."_

"_But Roxas, Father Brown said not to wander at night, and especially not to go to the abandoned house."_

"_Brother, Father Brown just says those things because he likes being able to control the town. He's only been here for two weeks and everybody already trusts him."_

"_That's because he is the only thing that can protect the town against the vanishing. Whatever town he is in at the time, doesn't get hurt."_

"_?? , doesn't that sound a bit suspicious to you? The only thing out in the woods are wolves, and if you don't bother them, they won't bother you. Besides, Seifer dared us, if we don't go, we would never hear the end of it. Don't you trust your older brother to keep you safe?"_

"_Hey! You're only older by four minutes."_

"_Stop trying to change the subject, are you coming or not?"_

" _. . . Kay Roxas, I'll come."_

"_Don't sound so down . Two nights from now we go in, get something from inside, and go out again. There won't be any time for anything to go wrong."_

"_If you say so brother."_

I bolted up and found that the lights I placed in the lava lamp earlier were blazing with all my nervous energy. I got myself back under control again and watched the lights dim back to normal brightness. It seems like every night now I dream of my brother. It must be getting close to the anniversary. Now that I'm calm though, I can smell two other people, if you lose the word loosely, lounging down in my living room. One look over at my curtains and I had the sudden urge to pinch the bridge of my nose, even if I didn't have a headache.

As soon as I go down the stairs my eyes confirmed what my nose already knew. Kicking his feet in the little stream was Demyx and lounging in the only chair in the room reading a book was Zexion. They looked up when I entered the room.

"Heya Roxas! Aren't you up a little early? There's still a couple hours until sunset," Demyx said in a peppy happy voice.

"Demyx," I said slowly, "Why are there silver hearts on my curtains?" I said as I stalked towards him.

Demyx started looking more and more nervous. Zexion looked over the rim of his(my) book and said in a voice that sounded far to amused for the situation, "I told you should have used the light blue and not the silver."

"Yeah, but the blue wouldn't have shown up as good," Demyx said forgetting about me and springing out of the water and blurred across the room to lay down on my couch. Demyx didn't notice my eye twitch and continued, "I was going to do stripes but I didn't have enough paint and I couldn't just leave the curtains the way they were, and then I thought of hearts. They look so much better now. The hearts really break up all that black, don't you think?" Demyx asked me. It seems he really did forget that I was mad at him.

"Demyx," I said in my most pleasant voice. Zexion, who had been watching the whole time, knew what was going to happen, and put his book in front of his eyes, and most likely shut them. I put my thumb and middle finger together, in front of his face. He crossed his eyes so he could still see my fingers. I snapped them and a huge bust of light radiated from my fingers. "Don't ever go in my room, don't track water in my house, and don't get my furniture wet," I said in my regular voice. Demyx was still kind of disoriented, so I pushed him off the couch and sat down.

"Are you okay Demyx?" Zexion asked without looking up from his book. A 'uhh' was heard from the floor. That was enough for Zexion, so he found a book mark and placed it in the book. "Do you think I could borrow this? It's one I haven't read before," he said while he gestured to it.

I nodded my head and watched him put it on his lap. "Why are you two here?"

"Something happened," Zexion said, his features instantly hardening. Demyx finally shook himself from the floor and sat on the armrest next to Zexion, all trace of previous humor gone.

"A couple of hours ago Larxene ported into '_El Baile Muerto' _unconscious and with barely any blood," Demyx said in a sober voice.

"What?" I said truly astounded. Larxene wasn't one that got beat up easily. She once beat up a whole pack of werewolves and only came out of it with three scratches and a chipped fang. To imagine anyone being able to do that to her is unimaginable.

Zexion nodded, with a hard glint in his eye. "The superior called a meeting in the usual place. Everyone is to be there."

"How is Marluxia taking it?" I asked. The only thing more scary than an angry Larxene is an angry Larxene's husband.

"He hasn't left her side. Vexen and Xaldin already treated her. The superior exempted him from the meeting."

"Just as well. The only thing keeping Marluxia from finding who ever did that to her is the superior's specific order to not leave her side," Demyx commented. Me and Zexion nodded, knowing it was true and almost feeling sorry for the people that did this to her.

"'_sigh'_, you to go ahead. I'll get my meal for the night and then head over to the meeting," I said while getting up.

Zexion nodded and grabbed Demyx's hand and pulled him up. Demyx was just about to open his mouth before Zexion interrupted him, "Demyx, unless you want Roxas to make you permanently blind, I suggest you keep your mouth shut." Demyx's face fell at this and Zexion sighed. He grabbed a handful of Demyx's shirt and pulled him down into a kiss, it's kind of funny when Zexion is the older one and is nearly 2 feet shorter than him. After a couple of seconds, Zexion pulled away looking embarrassed, only missing the blush, while Demyx came away looking exceedingly happy. I only shook my head and chuckled quietly.

"Shouldn't you guys be going back to the castle?" I asked, still slightly snickering. Zexion still didn't say anything, especially since he just seemed to realize he hadn't let go of Demyx's hand throughout the whole thing. It's funny to think that the only thing that can crack the schemer's facade is a little PDA.

"Yeah, come on Zexy," Demyx said as he opened a portal and tugged on Zexion's hand. He turned to me and waved, "See you in a couple of hours Roxas!"

I just waved back as I watched them walk through the portal. They make a really cute couple. It's kind of sad, how I can never have any normal friends. I guess though, I lost my ability to have normal friends way back in 1587. These are thoughts for another time though. It only just occurred to me that I haven't been wearing a shirt.

As soon as they left, I went and found a pair of black, unstained, slacks and a blue button up shirt, the only one that didn't smell funny, and put them on. I made a portal and combed my fingers through my hair, making sure all the spikes were in their place. Since it's still won't be nightfall for another two and a half hours, I'll have to have a cross continental breakfast, literally.

Author Notes: Like I said in the story, Roxas _really_ likes his house. If you haven't picked up on what they are yet, you will after you read the beginning of the next chapter. To people that don't know Spanish, 'El Baile Muerto' is a direct translation to 'the dancing dead'. It'll be a little slow, just wait for it.


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3_

Ohhh, I can't believe this. That new club was supposed to be around here somewhere. All these alleys just look the same. I am really starting to get scared now. To many horror movies and warnings from mamá have turned the shadows into monsters.

"Excuse me, señorita?" a voice from behind said. I spun around to meet one of the most handsome men I have ever seen. He was dressed with black slacks and a form fitted blue, collored shirt. His white skin and blonde spikes where nearly glowing, but his eyes caught me. They seemed to have a light of there own, like two blue bonfires. I just barely caught what he said next, "You shouldn't wander at night, you don't know who could be hiding in the shadows." he said in a purr while walking towards me. I was so caught up in his eyes that I could barely make a sentence.

"I-I was trying to find th-the new club. I'm meeting mis amigas. Qu-qué saba donde es el club?" I asked quietly. Somewhere in my mind I thought that he might be one of those people hiding in the shadows that he warned me about, but his eyes swept the thought away.

"Hm, I'm afraid I don't know Spanish. Perhaps you should forget the club and go to sleep," he said now in front of me with his hands on my shoulders, his eyes never leaving mine. All I could think of were his blue eyes. For some reason I could hardly keep my own open.

"Pero, mis amigas . . . " I whispered out, his arms the only things keeping me from falling.

"Relax señorita, just go to sleep," the eyes said. They were asking so nicely, so I closed my eyes. The last thing I felt before I went unconscious were two little pricks on my neck.

- - - - - - - - -

After I had my meal I ported to the edge of _'The Town That Never Was'_. 'The Town That Never Was', whenever someone says the name out loud, I always expect some lightning and thunder to strike in the background. One time when the superior was giving the tour to Luxord, he spread his hands out dramatically and said the name. As soon as he said it, I made some illusionary lightning behind him. It was the only time I've seen Luxord outright laugh and Xemnas outright angry. Incidentally, later that day, I began looking for a house outside of the town. I did that stunt back before I 'froze over', quoted from Demyx.After everything calms down again though, I need to talk Larxene into doing it so I can take a picture.

Anyways, I ran to the center of the town, which when you don't need to breathe and are super strong, took a couple of seconds. I paused outside 'El Baile Muerto'. It must have been quite a sight to everyone, human or otherwise, to have a lifeless body come crashing down on you and your dance partner. I refocused myself though and continued running towards the center of town. In the center of town is Castle Oblivion. With thirteen floors above and below, it is a strange place to find out in the middle of the forests in Washington.

It kind of sucks that you can't portal directly there, or anywhere on the street for that matter. The rules though are smart, and have saved this town on multiple occasions. Since the 'no porting on the streets' rule is only for this town, any foreign entities are already noticed as being foreign. The rule for the castle is more than a rule though, it is physically impossible. I don't know what the Superior did, but he, and maybe a few others, put up a barrier around the entire 26 floors of the castle. What with only one doorway and the walls made of so much metal and rock that even a vampire couldn't get through, it truly is a fortress.

As soon as I got to the front doors and got inside I ported to our meeting room. It looked exactly like a gentlemen's smoking room without the whiskey and cigars. It had twelve huge armchairs, that looked oddly like thrones, though I never questioned it, with numbers 1-13, excluding 8, on the back. They all faced inward making a circle.

When I walked in five chairs were missing their occupants. I waved to the others that were already there and collapsed on my chair. As soon as I got settled Demyx and Zexion ported into the middle of the room. I looked up at them with a raised eyebrow.

"Hello Demyx, Zexion. Did you get lost in the corridors?" I asked. Zexion just looked at me, and I gave him a small smile to show I was joking. After that he relaxed and they both went to their seats. After he got there though, Zexion tilted his head and sniffed the air.

"Where have you been? You smell . . . foreign."

I raised my eyebrow, a bad habit that I picked up over the years since I don't talk much, at his word choice before I answered him. "I told you I was going to get breakfast before coming here. I dropped by Madrid."

"Spain?" Luxord questioned, pausing from his floating game of solitaire.

"I like Spanish food," I replied. Xaldin snorted and Vexen said something like 'morbid humor'. "When are the missing three supposed to show up?"

"Soon," Lexaues said, looking up from his book, "They are just checking up on Larxene. They should be down any minute."

We all just amused ourselves, mostly using our abilities, to pass the time. I was having immense fun distorting the light around other's faces creating illusions. Demyx couldn't stop snickering from where he was sitting. I think I even got Luxord and Lexaues to smile, which is quite a feet. It seems when you die, you lose the ability to be expressive. We all abruptly stopped when three portals appeared in the room.

Xemnas, Xigbar, and Saíx walked in and sat down. Xemnas looked at everybody before he started speaking.

"As you all probably know, Larxene ported into the middle of 'El Baile Muerto' at 6:15 PM today critically injured. She will recover in a couple days time. Marluxia is with her now and is ordered to stay there. We don't know where she was or who attacked her. Until she wakes up I think it would be good to see if any of you have any information on any strange occurrences."

"Strange occurrences?" Zexion questioned.

Xemnas nodded his head. "Any of the true sects wouldn't risk themselves by openly attacking us. They would fear the repercussions to much to do that. What little clues we have point to a completely new enemy," Xemnas finished to Zexion and directed his next words to the circle, "Does anyone have any information?"

"Back in Maine, some strange things were starting to happen," I said trying to remember. Everyone's attention was focused on me.

"Strange things?" Xemnas asked in a voice that was somehow making fun of my word choice and asking me to continue at the same time.

"Yes, strange things," I rolled my eyes, "I don't know what sect they were with, but there was a large influx of learning slayers. I didn't want to be their final exam so I left. They weren't sporting any specific crest or color, I just thought that their elders didn't want to draw any unwanted attention by flashing signs. I thought nothing of it," I finished with a slight shrug of my shoulders and looked at the others. They were all absorbing the information. After a couple of seconds the silence was broken again.

"I was over in one of the caves by the oceans, about a week after Roxas moved. I had just got the last couple of things that Roxas wanted but I didn't want to pass up the chance to play in the caves. The cave I would normally go to had a really good echo, which is probably the only reason why I heard it," he paused looking around to see if the others were listening. With an encouraging nod from Zexion, he continued, "Right when I got in I heard chanting coming from inside the cave. The chants though were from wican and witch teachings so I just blew it off and left. They probably weren't even in that particular cave, if you go far enough back there're all connected. A normal person wouldn't have been able to pick it up. It didn't occur to me until after I was home that they were . . ." he was wildly gesturing trying to pull the word from the air. After a minute he just settled and said in a little voice, "off."

"What do you mean by 'off'?" Zexion questioned from across the circle. Demyx started thinking and gesturing again until he snapped his fingers.

"Back when I was a water priest for my village I presided over all the magic in the there. I would train the water witches and wicans. We always taught to take and give, like the tide. It was a constant circle of give and take with the energies that we pulled from something other than ourselves. Whoever those people in the cave were weren't following that rule. They were forcefully taking the energy and not giving any back."

"You were a priest?"

"What do you mean?"

Xigbar and Vexen looked at each other. They both asked their questions at the same time. After Vexen was sure that Xigbar wasn't going to interrupt with any more useless questions, Vexen continued.

"What do you mean?" he repeated.

"Well . . ." Demyx said while scratching his head, "It's like having a roommate. Both of you would pay the bills and clean the house. Everyone is happier, it takes less work, and is just plain manners. The same thing applies. If you don't, it will be harder to take power the next time, and there is a bigger possibility of backlash. The only people that don't obey that law try to take energy from an element that isn't theirs, or they just don't care. The rule of give and take is the very first thing you learn in the teachings."

"I believe I might have something to add," a British accent said from the other side of Demyx, "I was off in some pub or another and was listening in on some young fangs," he paused when he saw our confusion.

"Vampires," Xigbar filled in. Everyone's face changed at once.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter. Point is, they were talking about a whole new breed of vampire haters. They said that this new sect was taking in anyone that wasn't satisfied with their own clan's law, witches, slayers, and even regular humans. Don't know if it's true, but it fits our situation extremely well, don't you think?" Luxord finished resting his head back on his hand.

"It would make sense since none of the original factions would attack one of our members without provocation. Only a young, green group would believe that they are strong enough to take on the organization. I believe the next question is what are we going to do." Saíx said.

"No, the right question is what can we do," Lexaues said, "all we have is an unconscious teammate, 2 unrelated incidents, and 1 rumor. The only thing we can do is make sure that we keep our heads near the ground, and our ears even closer," he finished in his same quiet way.

Xemnas nodded, "Is there anything else that anyone can add?" When nobody moved, he started issuing out orders, "Xigbar, Luxord, you two will track down those rumors that you heard. Demyx, you will show Saíx and myself the cave where you heard the chanting. Then you, Roxas, and Zexion, will go and try to find out more about the new recruits. Xaldin, you Lexaues, and Vexen will be on shifts here. One of you will stay here to watch over Larxene and the town. The other two will go out and look for more information. You three can decide amongst yourselves about the length of the shifts. Roxas, you need to tell us where you moved to now, we need to know where everyone is. These people mean to kill us, and we will return the favor in time. Until then, stay on your guard. We will stagger these missions, and inform the others when they happen. We will take no chances, and if some of you haven't figured out," here he paused and looked directly and Xigbar and Demyx, "these are stealth missions. We will show this enemy what happens when they mess with Organization XII." When he finished the last sentence, Saíx and Xigbar had a feral grin on while the rest of us showed our agreement with tight nods and hard eyes. "Everyone is dismissed. Expect the date for your missions in the next few days."

Everyone nodded and 10 different portals opened simultaneously all heading to their respected person's favorite brooding place. I think all of us could taste the feeling of something big coming up on in the air.

Disclaimer: Don't own any kingdom hearts or final fantasy anything. I just own the plot idea.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

AUTHOR NOTES: Stuff actually happens in this chapter. This is also the debut of our favorite red head, and I'm not talking about Kairi. Sorry for the long break. The conversations may get a little redundant, but it gets the point across.

* * *

It's been a couple days since the meeting. Today I have my mission with Demyx and Zexion, joy. A little time to clear my head before I have to go would be nice. I nodded to myself as I looked myself over to make sure I was presentable, if only that mirror thing wasn't true. I made a portal on the outside of Phillips. I put on my sunglasses and started walking towards the café.

It's a strange thing about my sunglasses. Most other vampires need them to see during bright days, but I don't. I guess since I control light, my eyes are immune to it. I do have to wear them though because in bright light my eyes change from blue to reflective silver. Demyx even said that they glow in the dark, but I'm not sure I believe him.

After about five minutes of walking I finally got to the café and walked inside. I waited in line a little surprised. The café was never usually this busy. It must be because it's 8:00 on a Monday morning. I tried to see if Tifa was here, but there were to many scents in the small room to smell just her. When I finally got to the register, I just stood there until the cashier recognized me.

"How may I- oh! Hello, you're looking for Tifa right?" the girl said. I gave her a nod. "Sorry, she isn't here today," she said, making sure the line wasn't getting to long.

"Will she be here on Saturday?" I asked. She wasn't as annoying as the other girls usually are, she didn't try to hit on me yet.

"Um, I don't know. The line's getting long though. Why don't you sit down, and on my break I'll find out and tell you?"

"Thank you," I said. After a couple seconds I added," and a chai latte please."

She replied with a peppy 'yes sir' while I heard the line complain behind me. I smiled to myself. Who says I don't have a sense of humor. After a minute or two she gave me my latte and I turned around to look for a table.

My usual table was taken, so I had to sit by the window. It was a good thing I kept the glasses on, I don't think these people would take well to my eyes changing color. After I settled in, I let myself sink into the chatter of the room.

"I heard that yesterday Sally said-"

"-and boom, the ceiling fell in right over-"

"-were slashed, steering column destroyed. The only thing-"

"-I'm telling you, Obama is going to crush McCain-"

"-she's so cute. She has a blue and yellow eye with-"

"-played Kingdom Hearts? It took me _forever_ to get past-"

"So you're the blond bombshell that explodes on all of these poor girls," a voice said from next to me.

I refocused my attention and looked towards the voice. The more appropriate word would be up, really up. I'm not a very tall person, but I've never had to sit next to a standing giant. I've always made it a point to not look at tall people when they tower over me. This must be what Zexion feels like everyday around Demyx. The guy must be at least 6' 10". The voice was still talking, but I concentrated on its appearance and not what it was saying.

This was a very strange human, though it wasn't the clothes that made him strange. The clothes were average, black pants and shirt, the regular uniform here. The only strange thing was that he was wearing black combat boots to match. It wasn't really the body either. It was outrageously tall and lanky, but no more so than Demyx.

No, the strange thing about this human was from the neck up. The voice for some reason got an upside down triangle tattooed under each eye. It looked like some type of goth clown makeup. The eyes and hair were slightly out of the ordinary too. Bright radioactive green eyes were off set by a huge main of barely tamed red spikes. You think it would be gaudy, but it looked good on him. The hair would probably look a lot better when it wasn't tied back though, since the top of his head was poofy with spikes. The last strange thing there was about him though was his scent. It was a strange mixture of smoke, fire, and, and . . . burnt toast.

"You must suck at cooking." My eyes widened slightly when I realized I said that out loud.

"What do you mean I suck at cooking? I would be a great cook if my appliances didn't break down every-wait a minute. Have you listened to anything I've been saying?"

I looked him in the eyes and deadpanned, "No."

"Aww, you wound me shorty, right here," he said dramatically while putting a hand over his heart. I just stared at him. He bent over and looked my in the eyes. "Names Axel. Got it memorized?" he said while tapping his head.

"You're the new employee that Tifa warned me about," I said. Stuck out like a sore thumb, likes attention, name starts with an 'A', everything seems to match.

"Oh, and what did Tifa say about me," he said pulling out the chair and sitting down. I narrowed my eyes slightly but didn't tell him to leave.

"She said that you flirt with anything and that I should try not to punch you face in if you try anything on me," I said in a flat voice.

"Why, pray tell, would you want punch my face in, hmm? Most people consider it an honor when they catch my attention," he said with a mischievous smile.

"I dislike people. I extremely dislike being bothered by people," I said looking out the window.

"The grapevine says different though," he said shaking his finger," It says that you've been a long time customer, but only on miss Lockhart's shifts." For some reason he was enjoying this conversation. He was leaning forward. His eyes seemed to glow in the sunlight like two green fires.

When my mind caught up to what it thought, and how long that I had been staring at his eyes, I sighed and turned my head to look out the window again.

"You know shorty," my eye slightly twitched, but because of the glasses I don't think he saw it, "we've been sitting here for awhile, and I still don't know your name."

I just sat there and took a sip of my drink.

"It's considered rude to not give your name when someone already gave theirs." I took another sip of my drink. "It's also rude to not look at the person talking to you."

I still ignored him and vaguely realized that I was running out of tea.

"Fine Mr. Ice Prince," I tilted my head towards him at his change of voice. He sounded like a kid that was told Santa didn't exist. "Tifa will be here on Sunday from 2:00 to 10:00. I hope you have fun with your girlfriend," he said as he got up. For some reason him being upset didn't sit well with me.

"Roxas."

"Huh?" He stopped and turned around. He had a cute look of confusion on his face. Wait, not cute, stupid. Yeah, stupid look of confusion on his face.

I sighed, "Roxas. My name," I said as I grabbed my latte and threw it out. I started heading towards the door.

"Well well, looks like your not as icy as everyone says."

I paused but didn't turn around. I could practically hear the smirk in his voice. I didn't fail to notice that he got over his previous mood rather quickly. "Don't spread it around," was all I said before I walked out the door and down the street. I tried to ignore the nice feeling that spread through me when he stopped being upset.

About ten steps from the door, my nose picked up a familiar scent. I didn't even need to follow it to know where it originated from. I stopped in front of the bookstore and sniffed the air one more time to make sure I was right. I walked towards the back to the mythology section and took off my sunglasses.

"I didn't know that you were in to this type of stuff," I said to the indigo head buried in a book. Zexion looked up and put the book back on the shelf.

"I wanted to see the famous café. Don't you find it ironic that one of the regulars to the 'Angel's Nest Café' is a vampire," he said, his one visible eyebrow raising.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I only noticed the name a couple weeks after I started going there."

"Hmm, do you know what else I noticed?" he said with a voice that slightly unsettled me.

"No, what else did you notice?" I said trying to hide my apprehension.

"I was going to go in and talk to you," he turned around and started browsing through the other books but kept talking, "but you seemed to be enjoying your conversation with your new redheaded friend so I decided I was going to wait here for when you were done," he finished turning around.

"Hmph, he isn't my new friend. He was just an annoying human that wouldn't leave me alone," I finished crossing my arms. Zexion tilted his head slightly and looked at me with a thoughtful expression. I was starting to feel nervous under his scrutiny so I turned around and started looking at the books. He stared at me for a couple more seconds before he shrugged his shoulders and grabbed the book that he was reading before I came in.

"I like this book. It has a couple of legends that I haven't read before."

We walked to the front of the store while I put on my sunglasses again. Zexion paid for the book and walked out the door. Right before he left the threshold of the store, he put on his own pair and we started walking down the street. It took me a minute to realize something.

"You were looking for me," I said looking forward. Zexion was already engrossed in his new purchase. It wasn't even worth trying to get his attention when he was reading a book.

He nodded his head. "Mom and dad wanted all of us to get an early start on our projects since 2 and 10 are done with theirs."

I had to hold back a laugh at the mental picture that conjured.

"It makes one wonder, in a relationship like theirs, who would be mom and who would be dad," I said, slightly smiling. Zexion paused and looked up. I stopped and turned my head back to him.

"Yes, but wondering brings up some disturbing mental pictures."

As soon as he said that, my smile fell while I imagined some more. We both slightly shuddered before we started walking again.

"I didn't need that. I didn't need that at all," I said trying to get rid of the picture that wouldn't go away. "Your boyfriend knows that we're starting early right?" I asked trying to change the subject, "Last time he we had to do something like this he was two hours late.

He nodded again probably trying to drown out the mental pictures from before with the stories of the book. "He's down at the cove showing the two which cave it was. We're supposed to meet him in the park. He should be there already."

I nodded my head to myself and left him to his book. After about ten minutes of walking in silence we finally reached the park. We didn't even need to try to find him, we just headed towards the lake. Just like we thought, Demyx was sitting by the side of the lake playing with the ducks and kicking his feet in the water. He looked up when we approached.

"Hey Zexy, Roxas. Meet Mr. Quackers and the wife and kids," he said while gesturing towards the ducks that were crowded around him.

Zexion inclined his head towards the ducks before he sat down and leaned against Demyx.

"Only you Demyx," I said with a slight smile as I sat Indian style facing them, but still next to the edge. I dangled my hand in the water and tried to lure one of the ducklings over to me. One of the braver ducklings swam over. I felt a slight pang in my chest. It was a brown duckling with blue eyes and some of the feathers on its head ruffled up. It reminded me of my nameless brother that I barely remembered. For some reason, I think that my brother was as blindingly trusting as this little duck. I smiled slightly as I slowly lifted my hand up and let a drop of water fall on its head. It gave an indignant quack and I smiled a little wider. The mother duck started swimming away, and my little duckling followed her.

"That. Was. So. _Cute_! I have to have Naminé draw a picture of that," Demyx squeed from in front of me. I jumped and snapped my head towards the two. Demyx was bouncing up and down a little and Zexion had his head on his shoulder.

"You're on a role Roxas, two new friends in an hour," Zexion said lifting his head up.

"Roxy made a new friend?! Who is it, what's he like-" Demyx stopped when he felt my glare.

"Don't call me Roxy for one, and for two, I didn't make a new friend. It was just an annoying human that wouldn't leave me alone."

"What's his name?" Zexion asked.

"Axel," I said before I thought about it.

"You did make a new friend!" Demyx yelled and tried to hug me. I dove to the side, but caught him before he rolled into the lake. I tossed him back to Zexion.

"Control him," I said as I stood up.

"Your right. Come on Demyx, it's time to do our mission," Zexion said as he pulled Demyx up, ignoring my statement.

"I thought we had to do our project for mom and dad," I said as we starting to leave the park.

"Hmm, that too. On a more important note, where are we supposed to go? The superior just said to find out more information, which is kind of open ended."

"Don't know. I always saw them around the square. That is where everything of interest is for the town. You'll blend right in Demyx," I said leading the way out of the park and to the square.

"What about you and Zexy," Demyx questioned. I turned around and rose my eyebrow at Zexion. He shrugged his shoulders.

"I forgot to tell him. Oops."

"Forgot to tell me what," Demyx said looking between the two of us, starting to get a little nervous.

"You're the only one that's going to be getting information. Me and Zexion will be watching from far away."

Demyx looked surprised and turned towards Zexion to see if what I said was true.

"Demyx, you have the lowest vampirc aura of all of us," Zexion said, putting a calming hand on his arm. It wasn't working, Demyx was looking more and more panicked by the second.

"Demyx, we'll still be covering you, just from a distance. We're here for a reason you know. I wouldn't let anything happen to you and neither would Zexion," I said giving him a small smile. After a minute, Demyx smiled a face splitting grin and blurred over to me. The next thing I knew, I was in a crushing bear hug from Demyx with my feet not touching the ground. Before I could tell him to get off, he sprang back next to Zexion with a smile on his face. I tried to glare at him, but in the end I just shook my head.

"You remind me a lot of him," I said continuing down the path.

"Who do I remind you of?" he questioned from behind me. I kept walking forward but tilted my head back to look at him.

"You remind me of my twin," I said, multiple emotions coloring my voice. I turned my head forward again, not breaking my stride. After a couple of seconds, an arm wrapped itself around my shoulder. I looked over and saw that he put his arms around mine and Zexion's shoulders and was walking between us.

"Well, the organization is one big family. It also has lots of incest too if you think about it," Demyx said tilting his head to the side and actually thinking about it. I snorted and Zexion just sighed and shook his head.

"Are there going to be any kids there? It is a Monday morning," Demyx asked leading us to the square.

"It should be better for us actually. All of the punks that skip school and like to brag about their abilities will definitely be there. You just have to go, throw a name or two around and watch them sing. Perhaps you should show some interest in joining this new group," Zexion said starting to slow his pace now that we were approaching the square.

"What group am I with?" Demyx asked as he stood in front of and started to shuffle his feet.

"Here, it's a Crushing Tides ring," I said giving Demyx a blue stone ring with three squiggly lines engraved on the front.

"How'd you get a vampire hunter's crest?" Zexion asked looking at the ring while Demyx put it on.

"It's a long story," I said with a smirk. The other two just looked at me and then looked at each other. Then Demyx started talking again.

"Okay, I'm Myde from the Crushing Tides, and I'm trying to find this new group because I want to join them and you two will be watching my back," he said still fidgeting with his hands.

"Don't worry Demyx, just be yourself," Zexion said grabbing one of his hands.

He calmed down a little and took a deep breath. He then put on a big smile and finished walking towards the square. Me and Zexion followed behind him until we found a place where we could see the whole square clearly. Zexion closed his eyes in concentration while I watched the area around us start to shimmer slightly.

"Nice illusion," I said speaking so low that only he could here it. He nodded his head towards me before he glued his eyes to Demyx.

I looked around evaluating the square. It looked like a industrial cul de sac. It had cafés, benches, trees, a movie theater, and everything else a teen could desire. A nice place to sit and relax. There were some individual kids, but the most interesting ones were sitting at the café. They all had muscles and scars, and even the few girls there looked like they could give a grown man a run for their money. As soon as Demyx approached, they all zeroed in on him, letting their instincts show. There was no way that these were normal teens ditching school.

Demyx got there and waved with a big smile on, trying to defuse the situation. After a couple of minutes of conversation, they treated him like a long lost friend. Only Demyx could go up to a group of vampire slayers and be treated like a brother. One of the girls apparently thought that he would make good boyfriend material. I heard a low growl from Zexion and looked towards him. He was tensing up and glaring holes into the back of the girl's head. I poked him in the shoulder and he relaxed a little. I shook my head and motioned to the group again.

After about 10 or 15 minutes passed, they all got a lot more serious. Apparently Demyx finally turned the conversation to where we wanted it to go. One of the kids looked up and said something that made all the other ones look towards him. The same kid kept speaking until he broke off and looked up. Everyone else looked up and past us. Demyx started to get a look of fear on his face that we could see from here.

We turned around to see a true slayer walking straight towards Demyx. He had numerous scars all over his face and had one arm sticking out of his red trench coat like a make shift sling.

"Shit," Zexion and me said simultaneously.

"Roxas, distraction."

I nodded my head and waited for the right moment, gathering up my power. There was no doubt in either of our minds, that this slayer would be able to pick up on Demyx's aura, no matter how faint it was.

Demyx was trying, and mostly failing, to stay calm. He wasn't sticking out much since all the other kids were doing the same thing. One of them turned and said something to Demyx who only nodded vaguely, his eyes never leaving the new comer. He said something and got up and started walking at an angle towards us. The man kept walking towards the others but he turned his head to look at Demyx. The exact moment that his eyes widened in recognition, was the moment that several things happened at once. While I made a huge flash flare go off 5 inches away from his face, Zexion dropped the illusion and blurred towards Demyx. Demyx and Zexion got to each other, then started running to the back of the movie theater while I set off another two flares in front of the man and the teens before I followed. When I got there, the other two had already opened a portal and were half way through. We all rushed through and we ended up falling out of the portal onto the floor of one of the rooms in El Baile Muerto.

We all stood up slowly and looked at each other.

"Told you we would have your back."

"Shut up Roxas."

AUTHOR NOTES: The scene with Roxas at the lake, playing with a little brown ducky was just so cute, I had to put it in there. Please review, every time you don't, a little Sora ducky gets real sad.


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